The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
A very special presentation will be made this week to a stalwart of Spalding Rugby Club who disarmed a terrorist during the attack on London Bridge in 2019.
Steve Machin was awarded the MBE in the King’s Birthday Honours and will be presented with the medal at his Spalding home on Friday.
Lincolnshire’s Lord Lieutenant Toby Dennis will meet Steve and his family for the special investiture in a poignant ceremony.
The former Head of Counter Terrorism at Whitemoor Prison, March, Steve, (50) was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year and is currently receiving palliative care at home.
“He was only diagnosed after going to the doctor with hip pain in January. He had physio and all sorts, but we were then told it was cancer, and it was too far gone for chemotherapy. It has all been such a shock,” said his wife Pip.
“The investiture was to have been in September, but Steve will not be well enough to attend so the Lord Lieutenant is coming to our home now,” added his wife of 16 years.
Steve has been based at Whitemoor Prison since 1998 and was at the conference in London’s Fishmongers Hall when a terrorist murdered two people in November 2019.
His wife said Steve was one of the first people on the scene at London Bridge and helped disarm the man who was later convicted of the killings.
“He was at that conference and was involved with the disarming of the man. We couldn’t say too much at the time because of the court case that was to come,” said Mrs Machin.
“He had stepped out for a moment and when he returned it all happened and he chased the man across the road to disarm him,” she said.
His MBE has been awarded for services to HM Prison and Probatition Service.
A keen rugby fan, Steve had been a coach with Spalding Rugby Club’s youth teams for 12 years, until COVID interrupted events.
He had also worked with schools in the area to bring the sport to a wider audience.
“He started working with the younger players at the rugby club when our son Ollie was five, and kept it up after that,” said Mrs Machin.
He also played with the town’s first team for many seasons and has been involved with the club for a long time.
The couple’s son is now 21 and they also have a daughter, Keira (17).
Steve joined the prison service after graduating from a course at Wakefield College and rose to become the head of counter terrorism.
It was with that job title that he was involved in the ‘Learning Together’ conference on prisoner rehabilitation on November 29, 2019 in London.
A total of five people were stabbed and two died in the attack. Usman Khan was shot dead by armed officers.
